I have ways to express myself to this stupid deceitful dishonest slanderous transfat-sucking parasitic living cancer Richard Berman, someone who deserve to die from a very slow horribly painful inoperable cancer as much as Osama Bin Ladin and all very sadistic human beings on this planet. People responsible for mass poisoning people and advocating trans-fats and pesticide deserve to die in my opinion. They cause harm to tons of people they never met and never cause harm to those hicks in the name of profit and all those stupid fucking inbred hicks out there supporting that deserve to get cancer, a very slow painful torturous cancer, I don't care about those idiotic hicks, I have no remorse, no sympathy, no feeling and also my favorite one...... no guilt for those inbred hicks who put money before the live of people and responsible for clogging the hospitals making huge wait list and making soo many innocent people die. Richard Berman is far worst than Hitler and every very evil people combined into one, probably there is not enough evil human being on Earth to become equal to this fucking hick.
They are liars and crooks.
They are the whalers cheer squad and they will use ANY means to assist poachers
Also the CCF heritage is mass slaughtering humans such as being funded by biggest group of murdering companies. Founder known as the Philip Morris tobacco company. Those mother fucking cock suckers responsible for murdering many people and crippling non smokers health by exposing to second-hand smoke and making ex-smoker having reduced health. Sportsmen, trappers, hunters and other will support them to try to disable PETA, HSUS, API, FUNDS etc with slanders. Is like. I'd rather be supporting CCF and being responsible for killing nearly 1 billions people from a preventable death known as smoking. They are PROFIT organization funded by tobacco companies, they are anti-environment and bunch of right winged inbred hick assholes.
CCF was founded by this ugly motherfucker
inbred hick bald Richard Berman..
60 Minutes has called him "the booze and food industries' weapon of mass destruction," and his nickname (from both friends and enemies) is "Dr. Evil", an alias in which he takes pride.
Also further more information added to the bottom about CCF frauding, flawed information and lies.
Which furtherly expose this ASSHOLE Richard inbred hick Berman who love getting aroused toward the suffering of dying cancer victim from the death addiction of tobacco because of his anti-anti-smoking movement.
In 2008 the Center for Con$umer Freedom received 1.52$ million in contributions
1.41$ million--or 97%-- went to Rick Berman and his PR company, Berman & Company.
Even David Berman the son of Rick Berman hates his own dad because Rick is a HORRIBLE person.
Check HERE
BERMANEXPOSED
Who is Richard Berman?
Richard Berman is a Washington, D.C.-based hired gun who uses front groups to defend his corporate clients against the public interest. Using his lobbying and consulting firm, Berman and Company, as a revenue vehicle for his activities, Berman runs at least 23 industry-funded projects, such as the Center for Union Facts, and holds 24 "positions" within these various entities.
The biggest anti-vegan is probably Richard Berman. His organizations probably spread the most anti-vegan, anti-animal, anti-health, anti-justice, and anti-freedom propaganda on the web.
The biggest anti-vegan is probably Richard Berman. His organizations probably spread the most
anti-vegan, anti-animal, anti-health, anti-justice, and anti-freedom propaganda on the web.
Here’s a bit about him:
“Richard Berman is the longtime president of the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and consulting firm, Berman & Company, Inc. (“BCI”) which specializes in strategic research and communications. Throughout the years Berman has been a stalwart supporter of business and industry over consumer, safety and environmental groups. Berman has fought unions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, PETA and other watchdog groups in their efforts to raise awareness about obesity, the dangers of smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, the minimum wage and other causes. He has been described in the press as a ‘notorious D.C. lobbyist.’
“Berman founded and runs four tax-exempt front groups and a number of linked projects, focusing on food, tobacco, alcoholic beverages and labor. He is well-paid by the represented industries to serve as the executive director of all four organizations. Berman then uses his own lobbying and public relations firm to do work for the organizations, thereby channeling between 49% and 79% of all donations made to the groups into his own pocket.
Even his own son hates him, Rick Berman values his stupid lying company above his OWN son. What a despicable man this dumb hick is.
Each year, Berman, using his front groups to spread misinformation, spends millions of dollars distracting the public with misleading ads.
As a result of his largesse, in 2006, Richard Berman used $2,000,000 in cash to buy this $3.3 million house.
WSB-TV reporters should have checked their sources when they relied on information from the widely discredited Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF). While organized as a 501(c) (3) charity, CCF is a front group for a wide range of animal abuse industries and other corporate interest that wish to conceal their attacks on public interest groups and government. The group's stock-in-trade involves taking aim at organizations that promote food safety, public health, or animal welfare. CCF has even attacked the National Cancer Institute, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for their anti-drunk driving and public health campaigns.
CCF has consistently sought to undermine The HSUS's work to combat factory farming, puppy mills, the Canadian seal slaughter, commercial whaling, and other large-scale cruelties, and it would be most satisfied if we spent all of our money on animal sheltering instead of these industries that it so dutifully defends. The group attacks The HSUS precisely because we are effective and diligent, and because we pose the greatest threat to businesses that choose to continue to abuse animals as a core part of their operations.
The WSB-TV story is chock full of inaccuracies, one of which concerns the HSUS response to Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. HSUS was recognized nationwide for its enormous deployment in response to the crisis created by Katrina. Since Sept. 1, 2005, The HSUS has committed or spent more than $34 million on general disaster relief and recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast states, the enhancement of its disaster response capacities, and the transformation of public policy concerning animals in disaster. The most recent accounting is available to the public here.
The line of argument that we did not spend money properly was promoted by Louisiana cockfighters, CCF, and other political opponents of ours, and it never had a basis in fact. These groups exhibited little knowledge of our actual spending practices—they just did not like the level of public support and media attention we received during the Katrina crisis. The HSUS and state authorities in Louisiana and Mississippi work very closely on disaster planning and response, and we continue to fund a range of projects to help shelters, vet schools, and other institutions in the Gulf Coast. The HSUS is the lead disaster response agency for animals in the nation.
The HSUS has invested millions of dollars in local spay and neuter programs and is about to launch a national public service campaign encouraging people to adopt dogs and cats from their local animal shelters. We gave more than $6 million in direct grants to those organizations in 2007 alone and provide extensive ongoing training, evaluations, and other support. The HSUS also operates a network of animal care centers, provides rural veterinary services throughout the country, and offers a range of other hands-on programs. In 2008, we rescued and/or cared for 70,460 animals. We also work with law enforcement agencies to rescue animals from dogfights, puppy mills, and other large-scale cruelties. We are rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator, the highest possible rating, and in 2007 w084 percent of our costs were spent on animal protection programs.
In no written materials do we claim that all of our money goes only to animal shelters. Rather, we provide a wide range of support services to shelters because they serve critical functions in their communities. But they would be the first to concede that they do not have the reach or the resources to tackle the national and international problems of animal fighting, puppy mills, inhumane slaughter and transport, canned hunts, the fur trade, and other problems—campaigns that we work on every day. Through our wide range of programs, we help tens of millions of animals every year and prevent cruelty to countless others. Our work is complementary to these organizations, and we work with them throughout the nation.
The HSUS is very active in Georgia, particularly on anti-dogfighting efforts. We staff a 24-hour hotline for Atlanta-area residents to report dogfighting activity, and we offer up to $5,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions in dogfighting cases. We've paid four rewards and provided information to law enforcement agencies resulting in seven dogfighting busts in Georgia alone. We also run a community-based program that reaches young people on the streets of Atlanta to make sure they don't get involved in dogfighting in the first place.
The full range of our programs is set out on our web site, and we invite people to participate in the wide range of programs that make The HSUS the largest and most effective animal protection group in the world.
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
(click logo for the sources.)
Rick Berman is the head of the inapporpriately-named "Center for Consumer Freedom," a non-profit that he runs through his for-profit PR company called "Berman & Co." In 2008, The CCF received $1.52 million in "donations." Virtually all of that ($1.41 million) was funneled directly back to Berman & Co. or to Berman himself.
Rick Berman takes money from industries to attack charities they perceive as a threat to their business. For example, Berman has taken money from the alcohol industry and has attacked Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has taken money from the tabacco industry and has attacked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He has taken money from the factory farming industry and attacked The Humane Society. The list goes on and on.
How effective is Rick Berman?
Is Berman succesful at hurting the work of charities? Or has he just managed to swindle a lot of companies and hard-working farmers? Let's look at his campaign track record.
- The alcohol industry has funded him to fight decreases in the legal blood alcohol limit…and he's losing (the limit is much lower now than it was years ago).
- Despite his tobacco industry funding, there are now smoking bans popping up nationwide.
- Despite his meat industry funding, animal welfare reforms are now commonplace and more people than ever are concerned about the treatment of farm animals.
- Despite fast food funding, we're seeing calorie counts being posted on menus nationwide.
- He took money from the tanning salon industry to fight taxes on their services, yet all tanning salons in the country are now subject to a new tax.
Time and again, Berman has raked in money while waging losing campaigns.
What's Rick Berman's psychological state?
We don't know of any psychological analysis of Berman that's public record, so it's hard to say. But let's look at what Rick Berman's own son has to say about him:
"My father is a despicable man. My father is a sort of human molestor. An exploiter. A scoundrel … A couple of years ago I demanded he stop his work. Close down his company or I would sever our relationship. He refused. He has just gotten worse. More evil… My Dad started a very very bad company called Berman and Company. He props up fast food/soda/factory farming/childhood obesity and diabetes/drunk driving/secondhand smoke. He attacks animal lovers, ecologists, civil action attorneys, scientists, dieticians, doctors, teachers. His clients include everyone from the makers of Agent Orange to the Tanning Salon Owners of America." —David Berman (Rick Berman's son) |
And Rick Berman runs his company in the way you'd expect such a "human molester" to run a company.
 This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation. Help expose the truth about the tobacco industry. |  This article is part of the front groups portal on Sourcewatch. Join our team of citizen journalists researching and exposing industry secrets. |
Plus this ugly cock sucker Richard has soo much profit from murdering people that he blows it on making new shitty stupid slandering domains such as Petakill animals, obesityfacts, activistcash and more. This ugly fuck has soo much free time jacking off his money and spreading slander and getting away with it?. He even open these stupid ass low class websites to attack other people. If he would attack me I would surely take severe actions against this piece of shit living cancer face Richard. Probably making photoshops of his ugly hick face and ruin his life, reputation and more. As long this living walking cancer roams the earth more people will die in the name of profit from heart disease, mercury poisoning, lead poisoning, pesticide and cancer. Those stupid sportsmen worship this cocksucker like is their god, I have noticed on Tman most trappers worship CCF and their mighty bald headed hick Richard the murderer. They cry about terrorist attack etc. Look at this piece of shit who is responsible for killing more people than every terrorism act combined together. Sportsmen are surely corrupted and fucked in the head and the worship this freaken loser who love jacking over dead people bodies!!.
comes from there
OVERVIEW
CCF is one of the more active of several front groups created by Berman & Co., a public affairs firm owned by lobbyist Rick Berman. Based in Washington, D.C., Berman & Co. represents the tobacco industry as well as hotels, beer distributors, taverns, and restaurant chains. Hotels, motels, restaurants, bars and taverns together comprise the "hospitality industry," which has long been cultivated by the tobacco industry as a third party to help slow or stop the progression of smokefree laws. CCF actively opposes smoking bans and lowering the legal blood-alcohol level, while targeting studies on the dangers of red meat consumption, overfishing and pesticides. Each year they give out the "nanny awards" to groups who, according to them, try to tell consumers how to live their lives. Anyone who criticizes tobacco, alcohol, fatty foods or soda pop is likely to come under attack from CCF. Its enemies list has included such diverse groups and individuals as the Alliance of American Insurers; the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons; the American Medical Association (AMA); the Arthritis Foundation; the Consumer Federation of America; New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; the Harvard School of Public Health; the Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems; the National Association of High School Principals; the National Safety Council; the National Transportation Safety Board; the Office of Highway Safety for the state of Georgia; Ralph Nader's group, Public Citizen; the CDC; and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Over 40 % of the group's 2005 expenditure was paid to Rick Berman's public relations company, Berman & Co. for "management services. As part of its operations, CCF runs a series of attack websites, including ConsumerFreedom.com, ActivistCash.com, CSPIscam.com (attacking the Center for Science in the Public Interest), Animal-Scam.com, FishScam.com, ObesityMyths.com, Sweetscam.com, PhysiciansScam.com and PetaKillsAnimals.com.
STARTING OUT SMOKING
Mr. Berman launched the Guest Choice Network in 1995. Its initial funding came entirely from the Philip Morris (PM) tobacco company. GCN was formed so as to appear not to be "owned" by PM; address restaurant owners lack of interest in PM's " Accommodation Program " and broaden industry appeal. According to a September of 1995 letter from Mr. Berman to Barbara Trach , PM's Sr. Program Manager for Public Affairs, GCN was designed to:
"Create an aggressive mentality by (restaurant) operators (to oppose) government smoking bans."He proposed that PM form an aggressive front group to motivate restaurant owners to aggressively fight bans, while appearing to be acting on their own:
"...if you want to gain more ground quickly for the smokers' rights issue, the (Guest Choice) program must create a proactive, aggressive mentality by (restaurant) operators regarding government smoking bans..."
He described how hiding PM's involvement would allow the group take more aggressive action:
"Additional benefit -- if externally perceived as driven by restaurant interests, there will be more flexibility and creativity allowed than if it is 'owned' by Philip Morris. The American Beverage Institute , which opposes overly aggressive DWI laws, enjoys this profile."
According to a December 11, 1995 letter to Barbara Trach:
"I'd like to propose to Philip Morris the establishment of the Guest Choice Network. ...The concept is to unite the restaurant and hospitality industries in a campaign to defend their consumers and marketing programs against attacks from anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-meat, etc. activists. ... I would like to solicit Philip Morris for an initial contribution of $600,000."
The purpose of GCN, as Berman explained in a separate planning document, would be to enlist operators of "restaurants, hotels, casinos, bowling alleys, taverns, stadiums, and university hospitality educators" to "support mentality of 'smokers rights' by encouraging responsibility to protect 'guest choice.'" According to a year end budget, Guest Choice planned to spend $1.5 million during its first 13 months of operation, including $390,000 for "membership marketing/materials development," $430,000 to establish a communication center and newsletter (which Berman promised would have a "60% to 70% smoking focus", $110,000 to create a "multi-industry advisory council," and $345,000 for "grassroots network development/operation."
PM complied with Berman's initial funding request for $600,000 and pitched in another $300,000 early the following year:
"As of this writing, PM USA is still the only contributor, though Berman continues to promise others any day now," wrote Philip Morris attorney Marty Barrington in an internal company memorandum dated March 28, 1996.
Aside from PM, there were no other publicly-known funders of Guest Choice until its public launch two years later in April 1998.
TACTICS
Personal responsibility
While most food lobbyists rely on the rhetoric of "personal responsibility" to blame the obesity problem on the failure of people to act sensibly, CCF, in contrast, denies the problem altogether. Their position is to "defend" the very notion of personal responsibility by tying it closely to the All-American values of choice, freedom, and rugged individualism against the food police, militant radicals, and government bureaucrats who want to keep you from enjoying your God-given right to Big Macs, Marlboros, and Budweiser.
"Free to choose"
One of CCF's favorite strategies is to align the interests of food companies with those of the consumers. It portrays these two groups as "allies" and the besieged "victims" of government regulators, nonprofits, parents, and other food-industry critics. By "consumer freedom," CCF means the "right of adults and parents to choose how they live their lives, what they eat and drink, how they manage their finances, and how they enjoy themselves." The free-to-choose argument implies that advocates of sound nutrition policy are diametrically opposed to the interests of everyone else and that they are killjoys with no interest in enjoying food.
A related salvo is CCF's argument that nutrition advocates and other food-industry critics are infantilizing people when they give dietary advice. CCF produced a television commercial showing people trying to enjoy all-American pleasures such as ice cream, hot dogs and beer, only to be foiled by a hand that swoops down and commandeers the offending items. A voice-over inveighs:
"Everywhere you turn, someone's telling us what we can't eat. It's getting harder just to enjoy a beer on a night out. Do you always feel like you're being told what to do? Find out who is driving the food police at ConsumerFreedom.com.
Marginalizing advocates
Part of CCF's method is to direct attention away from the substantive issues and to keep the focus on the messenger rather than the message. For example, CCF has created a website known as CSPIscam , whose sole purpose is to discredit and defame the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). CCF dismisses CSPI's work as media driven and reliant on "junk science" to scare people into believing that the group is trying to take away their right to eat whatever they want.
CCF explains its mission as fighting back against "self-anointed "food police," health campaigners, trial lawyers, personal-finance do-gooders, animal-rights misanthropes, and meddling bureaucrats." An important aspect of such rhetoric is to set advocates apart from the mainstream. These labels are meant to conjure up caricatured images of 1960s-style activism, complete with flag burning, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. CCf has also developed a website called ActivistCash that claims to "expose" the funding sources of various environmental and public health organizations. The site includes a list of "key players" in nutrition advocacy, including New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle, who is described as "one of the country's most hystieral anti-food-industry fanatics," a food cop with "radical goals."
Implicit in CCF's food cop rhetoric is the idea that people who advocate for eating a healthy diet are motivated by personal agendas. They maintain a long list of people operating under supposed "hidden agendas." CCF is also accuses pro-vegetarian organizations like PETA and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) of hiding behind an " animal rights agenda", though these groups are visibly and vocally trying to protect animals and readily acknowledge such. See also A Visit to the ActivistCash.Com Web Site .
CAMPAIGNS
Defending payday loans
In a March 2008 letter to the editor of The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), CCF's Tim Miller defended the payday loan industry. "Research shows that when politicians respond to the calls of overzealous interest groups ... to eliminate payday lending, borrowers are forced to turn to more expensive and less desirable options," he wrote. "Economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that after North Carolina banned payday loans, those who were experiencing financial stress turned to bounced checks, bankruptcies and delinquent bill pay."
Anti-PETA and pro-mercury
CCF runs PetaKillsAnimals.com , a campaign against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), as well as campaigns questioning the health impact of mercury in fish. According to Forbes :
"Berman has already moved onto his next topic: scares about mercury levels in fish. He'll soon be adding FishScam.com to a growing collection of Web sites that includes AnimalScam, CSPIscam and ActivistCash.com , which exposes the financing behind do-gooder groups and lefty celebrities."
In February 2004, there was an ad campaign on the Washington, D.C. Metro featuring a photo of a mouse next to a photo of a sick girl in a hospital bed, criticizing PETA for its stance on animal testing and imploring viewers to visit the website to find out more and donate money for similar ads. A search on SamSpade.org reveals that the website is owned and operated by Guest Choice Network and Berman & Co. See also Richard Berman cares about animals: clients exposed .
Anti-anti obesity
A September 2005 Forbes article describes ads CCF ran in its "anti-anti-obesity" campaign:
"In one ad, Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" character actor Larry Thomas plays a chef who weighs customers, then barks "salad!" or "no food for you" depending on how far they push the scale. In another, heavy-handed "food police" rip an ice cream cone away from a whimpering kid, whack a beer from a man about to enjoy a sip and snuff out a hot dog on the ground."
To rebut claims showing a link between obesity and junk food consumption, and to establish itself as the respected authority on the issue, CCF has adopted a multipronged approach, including:
- Lobbying against nutrition legislation unfriendly to industry interests.
- Preparing well-time press releases.
- Publishing op-ed articles and letters to the editor.
- Advertising its views in print and electronic media.
In April 2005, following a U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study that "obesity accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States"; in contrast to earlier CDC studies suggesting 365,000 annual obesity-related deaths, CCF launched a $600,000 ad campaign. The ad ran in such major newspapers as the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , Washington Post and USA Today and called "obesity" a "hype":
"Americans have been force-fed a steady diet of obesity myths by the 'food police,' trial lawyers, and even our own government."
CCF's Mike Burita said the ad campaign was part "putting pressure on the leadership of the CDC, who has still not endorsed this new figure" for obesity-related deaths. Claiming that CCF wanted "some perspective," Burita added, "Obesity is certainly a genuine problem. But when genuine problems become political issues they tend to become exaggerated, as this has." In early 2002, CCF ran national radio ads targeting studies on the link between food consumption and health. One ad referred to "red-faced picketers wielding pointed wooden sticks with signs that read 'eat tofu or die' on the way to your classic cheeseburger and fries."
CCF sponsors the ObesityMyths.com website, which purports to debunk "myths" about obesity.
CCF's claims about obesity frequently make a straw man argument about the body mass index (BMI), a statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height and is used to assess how much an individual's body weight departs from what is normal or desirable for a person of his or her height. CCF claims that the BMI is a "flawed" standard because people with more muscle than average may weigh more than others of the same height, without necessarily having excess body fat. The CCF website mocks the BMI standard by listing muscular Hollywood action heroes and professional athletes; claiming that the government has deemed them "officially overweight."
In fact, U.S. government health standards do not rely exclusively on body mass index when giving weight loss advice. As the Obesity Education Initative of the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute explains, "assessment of overweight involves using three key measures: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and risk factors for diseases and conditions associated with obesity." A BMI higher than 25 is considered overweight, and higher than 30 is considered obese. However, the government's guidelines only recommend weight loss for people who are considered obese or who are considered overweight and have "two or more risk factors" such as high blood pressure, high LDL-cholesterol, a family history of premature heart disease, physical inactivity or cigarette smoking. Contrary to what CCF claims, these guidelines would not recommend weight loss for people such as Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington or Sylvester Stallone. CCF also loads the dice by misrepresenting the weight of many of the celebrities on its list. For example, it states that Brad Pitt is 6 feet tall and weighs 203 pounds. Other sources list Pitt's weight at between 150 to 175 pounds. (He was at his thinnest when filming Fight Club but bulked up for the movie Troy .)
Creating controversy
CCF's efforts to appear as an authority on obesity appear to work in spite of their lack of any identifiable credentials as a scientific body. CCF is regularly consulted by journalists on health issues and often positioned as the "other side" of relatively uncontroversial issues. For example, a September of 2005 article in the Los Angeles Times on data concerning the increasing the prevalance of obesity, quoted several health experts as well as CCF in order to create controversy. In the article, Dan Mindus, a senior analyst at CCF said that he didn't disagree with the data, but cited other studies showing tremendous drops in the level of children's physical activity and no evidence of higher caloric intake:
"In case after case, we see evidence kids aren't eating any more than they used to, but exercising less. It's almost too easy to blame snacks in schools when it's more difficult to try to get kids moving again."
CCF also likes to publish well-timed, strategically placed op-ed articles in leading newspapers, aimed at putting an industry-friendly spin on potentially damning scientific studies. On August 26, 2004, for example, CCF director Rick Berman trashed a story published that week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showing a clear connection between soda consumption and diabetes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In an article entitled "Soft Drink Hysteria Hard to Swallow," Berman wrote:
"Frankly, the contortions that the authors went through to demonize soda would make our own gold medal gymnasts proud."
Neither Berman or the Journal-Constitution explained why CCF should be more scientifically compelling than JAMA.
Anti-menu labeling
In 2004, California state senator Deborah Ortiz introduced a menu-labeling bill that was brought down by a CCF spearheaded campaign. CCF and other major food companies complain that menu labeling is costly and ineffective, claiming, instead, that the solution to the nation's obesity epidemic lies in better consumer education and personal responsibility. Joining the opposition was the California Restaurant Association, which predictably argued that the proposed law "sent the wrong message about personal choices and responsibility." The bill never made it out of the Assembly Health Committee.
QUOTABLE AND NOTABLE
In a 1999 interview with the Chain Leader , a trade publication for restaurant chains, Berman boasted that he attacks activists more aggressively than other lobbyists:
"We always have a knife in our teeth. Since activists "drive consumer behavior on meat, alcohol, fat, sugar, tobacco and caffeine," his strategy is "to shoot the messenger. ... We've got to attack their credibility as spokespersons."In November 2001, the Guest Choice Network launched a separate web site, ActivistCash.com , which purports to expose the "hidden funding" of various activist groups that support animal rights, food safety and smoking prevention. In January 2002 the Guest Choice Network renamed itself the Center for Consumer Freedom.
In a May 11, 2002 San Francisco Chronicle article, CCF spokesman John Doyle responded to questions about nationwide radio ads put out by the group. He said the ads were meant to attract people to their website and:
"draw attention to our enemies: just about every consumer and environmental group, chef, legislator or doctor who raises objections to things like pesticide use, genetic engineering of crops or antibiotic use in beef and poultry.
On November 16, 2004, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleging that CCF had violated its tax exempt status. According to the complaint, CCF engaged in prohibited electioneering; made substantial payments to Richard Berman and his wholly owned, for-profit Berman & Co. and was generally engaged in non-charitable activities. According to CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan to Forbes :
"It doesn't seem to me that someone should get a tax deduction while they're writing public relations memos about how people should be able to smoke in restaurants."
In January of 2006, CCF's David Martosko was asked, in the context of CCF's campaign dismissing concerns about mercury concentration in seafood, whether they received funding from the seafood industry, from coal companies or utilities:
"Well, I know that we never accepted money from utilities or coal companies. I don't know exactly which companies in the food sector support us. You know, it's not my job to know. I really don't pay attention. I do know that the vast majority of our, say, institutional funding, comes from the food sector. Beyond that, I just don't know," he said.
AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
In addition to the Center for Consumer Freedom, Berman & Co. sponsors several other organizations and web sites, including the Employment Policies Institute (which fights to keep the minimum wage low and opposes mandatory health insurance for workers), and the American Beverage Institute , which opposes restrictions on drinking and driving.
FUNDING
CCF is registered as tax-exempt nonprofit organization and is required to disclose some financial information to the Internal Revenue Service which is publicly available by inspecting their IRS Form 990s. Like Berman's other front groups, it does not disclose the identity of its funders, but some information about it has become publicly available thanks to the 1998 attorney generals' settlement with the tobacco industry, which required tobacco companies to release millions of pages of previously secret company documents.
CCF claims to represent "more than 30,000 U.S. restaurants and tavern operators." However, the IRS Form 990 which it filed for the the six-month period from July to December 1999 (under the name of "Guest Choice Network") shows that almost all of its financial support came from a handful of anonymous sources. Its total income for that period was $111,642, of which $105,000 came from six unnamed donors. It received no income from membership dues. Some of its funding apparently came from one of Berman's other organizations, the American Beverage Institute , which "contributes monthly amounts to the Guest Choice Network to assist with media expenses." The Guest Choice Network did not report paying salaries to any of its employees, who were presumably paid by Berman & Co.
CCF's Form 990 for the year 2000 showed total income of $514,321, almost all of which ($492,500) came from seven unnamed donors. Once again, it received no income from membership dues and did not report paying salaries to any employees. However, it did list $256,077 in compensation paid to Berman and Co., Inc., for "management services."
In 2004, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS alleging that CCF violated its nonprofit, tax-exempt status. IRS law prohibits private individuals from benefiting from nonprofit organizations, but CREW alleges that Rick Berman and his for-profit lobbying and public relations firm have received nearly $2 million from CCF and its predecessor organization since 1999. Tax-exempt organizations must have a charitable purposek, but CREW notes that CCF lobbies exclusively on behalf of food producers and the restaurant and tobacco industries.
2005 finances
CCF's Form 990 for the year 2005 listed total revenue of $3.67 million. Of its expenditure of $3.82 million in 2005, $2.19 million was for a series of major advertisements, $856,699 was for running a series of websites and distributring a daily emnail newsletter to "approximately 30,000 subscribers" and a further $214,000 on maintaining a "database of foundations grants and funding sources of organizations dealing with food and beverage issues."
Of the group's $3.82 million of expenditure in 2005, $1.62 million was paid as compensation to Berman & Co. , representating approximately 42% of the group's total expenditure.
Contributions
Through a whistleblower, the Center for Media and Democracy has obtained the following information about corporate contributions to the Guest Choice Network/CCF:
Contributors
| Corporation | Pre-2001 | 2001 | 2002 | Total |
| Coca-Cola Company | $200,000 | $200,000 | ||
| Excel/Cargill | $100,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 | |
| Monsanto | $200,000 | $200,000 | ||
| Tyson Foods | $100,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 | |
| Wendy's International, Inc. | $200,000 | $200,000 | ||
| Outback Steakhouse | $164,600 | $164,600 | ||
| Pilgrim's Pride Corp. | $100,000 | $100,000 | ||
| HMS Host Corporation | $50,000 | $25,000 | $75,000 | |
| RTM, Inc. | $64,872 | $64,872 | ||
| White Castle System | $43,872 | $43,872 | ||
| Perdue Farms, Inc. | $40,000 | $40,000 | ||
| Hatfield Quality Meats | $33,700 | $33,700 | ||
| Brinker International | $25,000 | $25,000 | ||
| Quantum Foods | $18,000 | $18,000 | ||
| Standard Meat | $17,500 | $17,500 | ||
| Applebee's International, Inc. | $15,000 | $15,000 | ||
| Coldwater Seafood | $15,000 | $15,000 | ||
| P.F. Chang's China Bistro | $15,000 | $15,000 | ||
| Performance Food Group | $15,000 | $15,000 | ||
| Rare Hospitality | $15,000 | $15,000 | ||
| Marie Callendar Pie Shops | $11,900 | $11,900 | ||
| Advantica Restaurant Group | $10,000 | $10,000 | ||
| National Steak and Poultry | $10,000 | $10,000 | ||
| Packaging Corporation of America | $10,000 | $10,000 | ||
| T. Marzetti Company | $10,000 | $10,000 | ||
| Trinchero Family Estates | $10,000 | $10,000 | ||
| King and Prince Seafood | $9,200 | $9,200 | ||
| Paradise Tomato Kitchens, Inc. | $7,500 | $7,500 | ||
| Michigan Turkey Producers Cooperative | $7,000 | $7,000 | ||
| Fired Up | $6,000 | $6,000 | ||
| Restaurant Concepts | $6,000 | $6,000 | ||
| Rosemount Estates (Southcorp Wines) | $5,300 | $5,300 | ||
| TriOak Foods | $5,100 | $5,100 | ||
| Armour-Swift Eckrich | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Darifair Foods | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Dean Foods Company | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Ken's Foods Inc. | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Simmons Foods, Inc. | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Sugar Foods Corporation | $5,000 | $5,000 | ||
| Casual Restaurant Concepts | $3,300 | $3,300 | ||
| LTP Management Group | $3,250 | $3,250 | ||
| Anton's Airfoods, Inc. | $3,000 | $3,000 | ||
| Cameron Mitchell Restaurants | $1,250 | $1,250 | $2,500 | |
| Chart House Enterprises | $2,500 | $2,500 | ||
| Max & Erma's Restaurants, Inc. | $2,500 | $2,500 | ||
| Royal Cup | $1,000 | $1,500 | $2,500 | |
| Pro Edge | $2,400 | $2,400 | ||
| Comarco Products | $2,000 | $2,000 | ||
| Save-on Seafood | $2,000 | $2,000 | ||
| Sun Orchard, Inc. | $2,000 | $2,000 | ||
| conceCustom Cuts | $1,500 | $1,500 | ||
| Good Humor/Breyer's Ice Cream | $1,500 | $1,500 | ||
| Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. | $1,500 | $1,500 | ||
| Pro Clean | $1,500 | $1,500 | ||
| Worldwide Restaurants Concepts | $1,500 | $1,500 | ||
| Bestfoods Foodservice | $1,250 | $1,250 | ||
| Kagome, Inc. | $1,086 | $1,086 | ||
| Campagna-Turano Bakery, Inc. | $,500 | $,500 | $1,000 | |
| Carlson Hospitality Worldwide | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Country Kitchen International | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Daisy Brand | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Eli's Cheesecake Company | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Jeff's Gourmet Pies | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| John Soules Foods | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| KPR Foods | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Revolution, Inc. | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| Ruth's Chris Steak House, Inc. | $1,000 | $1,000 | ||
| John R. Daily Company | $,750 | $,750 | ||
| Mexican Restaurants | $,750 | $,750 | ||
| Not Your Average Joe's | $,347 | $,347 | $,694 | |
| Buca, Inc. | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| Louise's Trattoria | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| National Everclean Service | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| North American Enterprises | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| Real Food Marketing | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| Ruby Tuesday, Inc. | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| Syracuse's Italian Sausage | $,500 | $,500 | ||
| China Mist | $,400 | $,400 | ||
| KorBert, Inc. | $,300 | $,300 | ||
| Crystal's International | $,252 | $,252 | ||
| 4 B's Restaurants | $,200 | $,200 | ||
| North American Provisioners | $,150 | $,150 | ||
| Coffee Reserve, Inc. | $,140 | $,140 | ||
| Total : | $56,950 | $1,392,007 | $402,509 | $1,851,466 |
PERSONNEL
Officers
The IRS Form 990 filed for 2005 lists the following officers:
- Richard Berman - Executive Director
- John Doyle - Secretary, Treasurer & Director, (roles which it states take one hour a week)
- Jacon Dweck - Director
- David Browne - Director
- Lane Cardwell - Director
Advisory panel
CCF also has an advisory panel. In 1998 it included the following individuals:
- Dave Albright - National Steak & Poultry
- Jane Innes - Perkins Family Restaurants, L.P.
- Steve Bartlett - Meridian Products Corporation
- Robert Basham - Outback Steakhouse, Inc.
- John F. Berglund - Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association
- Lou Chatey - Sebastiani Vineyards
- H.A. "Andy" Divine - University of Denver
- Timothy J. Doke - Brinker International , Inc.
- Richard Fisher - Tetley USA, Inc.
- William L. Hyde, Jr. - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
- James Spector - Philip Morris , USA
- Michael Middleton - Cargill Processed Meat Products
- Daniel J. Popeo - Washington Legal Foundation
- Richard G. Scalise - Armour Swift-Eckrich
- Daniel Timm - the Bruss Company
- Carl Vogt , Fulbright & Jaworski
- Richard Walsh - Darden Restaurants , Inc.
- Terry Wheatley - Sutter Home Winery
Media
- Tim Miller - Communications Director, CCF & Employee Freedom Action Committee ; a Berman-created lobby opposing the Employee Free Choice Act .
- Mike Burita - Worked for the Frontiers of Freedom , Brent Bozell 's Media Research Center , Phyllis Schlafly & a variety of conservative causes and republican election campaigns.
- John Doyle - Communications director, Berman & Co., Spokesman for CCF, the Employment Policies Institute & American Beverage Institute .
- Tom Lauria , On February 24, 2000, the Washington Post reported that Mr. Lauria, "who helped peddle the tobacco industry's message at the Tobacco Institute before the lobby group was dismantled", had been hired GCN's Director of Communications. He left Berman's employ in 2001.
- David Martosko - Director of Research
Former personnel
The IRS Form 990 filed for the the six-month period from July to December 1999 by CCF (then calling itself the Guest Choice Network), listed, in addition to Berman, the following officers:
- Ray Kraftson - Director
- Dixie L. Berman - Secretary/Treasurer
- Dan Popeo - Director, Chairman of the Washington Legal Foundation , a corporate-funded right-wing think tank which paid him $301,593 in salary and benefits in 2000.
- Allison Whitesides - Director - Ms. Whitesides has also worked as a public relations representative for Coca-Cola North America and Outback Steakhouse . In November 2001, she went to work as a legislative representative for the National Restaurant Association .
CONTACT
Like other Berman & Co. front groups, CCF is headquartered at:
Berman & Co.
Note: the asshole's personal phone and address wont be displayed on here.
Web address: http://www.consumerfreedom.com
Are you aware that the falsely called Centre for Consumer Freedom is a front group for among others the Tobacco and alcohol industry and support the "right" of driver to drive while drunk?
A: We are very aware that CCF are frauds they do promote freedom to consumers but the abusing way. Freedom is good but abusing freedom is being an outlaw and a possible criminal, they promote excessive freedom such as drinking and driving, canned hunts, poaching and everything that means freedom. They are bunch of fucking outlaws and pricks. Only idiots and inbred hick support those murderers and tobacco hugging assholes.
CCF was originally funded by Phillip Morris to oppose smoking bans. They campaign against MADD, Greenpeace, The Humane Society, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, in addition to PETA. Their founder, Richard Berman, is currently working tirelessly to promote the interests of predatory lenders.
Not too difficult to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys....
http://www.hsus.org/center_for_consumer_freedom.html
Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is a front for Rick Berman and Co. which is a lobbying group for the tobacco industries as well as big "food" and others.
I have met David Martosko personally (he is CCF's director of research, you have proof right here in case you don't believe me: http://www.rexano.org/Documents/Martosko… He is out of shape and seemingly in poor health and he likes to stalk people. He also is a bad photographer and a compulsive liar and he was a guest speaker on the Alex Jones show (the same one that has ties to holocaust denial and 9/11 tr00th movements and other whackjob conspiracy theories and crazy racists you can find the interview on the utoobs) but other than that he is a great guy. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting any of the other CCF goons but if they are anything like Martosko they are a barrel of losers who will probably die pretty young and pretty unhappy but loaded with cash from Philip Morris and Red Lobster (the worlds only communist seafood chain...LOL)
In response too those who claim the links posted are from PETA (which is the biggest load of...ahem in fact sourcewatch is run by a guy named John Stauber who doesn't work for PETA and has no ties to PETA that I have ever seen) here are some other links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berman_and_…
http://www.bermanexposed.com/
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/oppo… (I do not under any circumstances support HSUS but their information in this case is correct)
Plus if you do not believe any of this you can go into their records which should be public as CCF is somehow a 501(c)(3) non profit (even though Rick Berman is profiting like crazy) and you can also go too their site and see their attacks on groups like the Harvard School of Public Health (as in Harvard University the same place that has graduated many presidents and other world leaders and famous people, not that I support any of them).
CCF should be investigated for fraud and corporate crime as they don't seem at all like a non-profit but more like a Mafia style "olive oil business" or "butcher shop" as in a fake front for a pretty nasty group.
Richard Berman is an influence peddler. He has worked out a scheme to funnel charitable donations from wealthy corporations into his own pocket. In exchange, he provides a flurry of disinformation, flawed studies, op-ed pieces, letters to the editor, and trade-industry articles, as well as access to his high-level government contacts, who are servants of the industries he represents.
Learn more at: www.consumerdeception.com
Rachel Maddow Exposes Humanewatch as a Project of The Center for Consumer Freedom
Dr. Evil Rick Berman exposed by Rachel Maddow. He attacks Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and The Humane Society of the United States on behalf of corporate clients in the food and beverage industry.
He claims tanning beds are good for you.
He claims mercury in many fishes doesn't hurt you.
He claims transfats cleans up your arteries.
He claims secondhand smoking doesn't harm you.
THAT IS ALL FALSE WHO WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THIS LYING CULT?
Sportsmen are truly evil people and hypocrites, whoever supports them are hypocrites, are evil and hicks.
Also whoever support CCF, petakillanimals, humanewatch, activistcash and all or anything have a root with CCF and this bald headed inbred hick Rick Berman ARE:
Manhater, pro-diabetes, pro-cancer, pro-heart diseases, pro-tobacco, animal-haters and pro-neo-Nazism.
I will mention the people and or group of people who rather be responsible for the death of about a billion human lives are, sportsmen, anti-peta people, Mira trapper aka Donald Allister Mac Leod (Donnie MacLaod) the ignorant deep religious man who hide himself and who is pro-ignorance and using false information from those asshole inbred CCF hicks. Everyone working at the CCF deserves to die of cancer, I have no sympathy and no compassion for those people. They are worst than Hitler and they are worst than the Spanish conquistadors who killed more people than Hitler the stuff they did to South America and Mexico. If one person would be responsible for killing many people they'd kill him. But in this corrupted society we live in tobacco companies workers they don't get killed (executed) for poisoning and mass murdering people. They should face crime against humanity including this hick Rick Berman who is worst than Hitler and the Spanish conquistadors combined with all the world's terrorism. Who supports CCF or work with them I hate them more than anybody in the world and I hope the worst for them. That is my opinion and personal views on the CCF, they are more evil than any known human.
Sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berman_(musician)#Retirement_from_music
On the same day, he made another post on the message board revealing that he is the son of lobbyist Richard Berman . The two have been estranged since about 2006 , when David demanded that his father halt his work supporting guns, alcohol, union-busting and other industries of the like, or else he would sever their relationship. Richard refused, and the two have not spoken since. In the message board entry, he called his father "evil," a "human molestor," an "exploiter," a "scoundrel," and "a world historical motherfucking son of a bitch." Berman ended his post by saying, "I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage."
In January 2011, Berman launched his blog " Menthol Mountains ."
| Even David Berman aka son of Rick Berman can't stand his own dad. Sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berman_(musician)#Retirement_from_music On the same day, he made another post on the message board revealing that he is the son of lobbyist Richard Berman . The two have been estranged since about 2006 , when David demanded that his father halt his work supporting guns, alcohol, union-busting and other industries of the like, or else he would sever their relationship. Richard refused, and the two have not spoken since. In the message board entry, he called his father "evil," a "human molestor," an "exploiter," a "scoundrel," and "a world historical motherfucking son of a bitch." Berman ended his post by saying, "I am the son of a demon come to make good the damage." In January 2011, Berman launched his blog " Menthol Mountains ." |
http://www. consumerfreedom .com / Center for Consumer Freedom /
http://www.humanewatch .org / http://www.activistcash.com / http://www.animalscam.com / http://www.cspiscam.com / http://www.howmuchfish.com / http://www.mercuryfacts.org / http://www.obesitymyths.com /
http://www.petakillsanimals.com / http://www.physicianscam.com / http://sweetscam.com / They will use your "donated" money to make more of their stupid lying mislead websites
Don't trust the tobacco companies they murder far more people than terrorist, Hitler and even the worst non-biological natural disaster .
Richard Berman Discrimination against vegan, vegetarian, animals and Earth. Stupid bald headed hick who should die of cancer. www.trapperman.com
evil people like Paul Dobbins mira trapper and trappers supports CCF humanwatch which are the biggest frauds founded by the big tobaccos which
Shows trappers are truly very evil people in the world. Supporting those crooks is supporting the mass slaughter of human beings for profit